This Friday May 19th we have a free rat trap and cage pick up afternoon at Patumahoe School from 2.25 – 4.30pm.

If you are able to help hand out traps and talk to people that would be great. You are welcome to come along and pick up 1 or more rat traps yourself. There is also an awesome limited special offer where you can register to purchase a Good Nature A24 rat trap for just $80 including a counter for free. (Normal retail direct from Good Nature $199).

This is immediately after school finishes and has been publicised through the school newsletter and County News. Some of us will be there earlier at 1.00pm helping assemble some of the rat trap cages. If you are able to join us at 1.00 – even better. No carpentry skills needed.

We carried out some bird surveys around the Village with help from Patumahoe School room 9 students. What was great to see is that tui and kereru numbers were way up on similar surveys we carried out 5 – 7 years ago. In the buffer zone around Patumahoe we saw several bait stations and one land owner has in place 24 Good Nature rat traps. It is awesome to see the difference and it will exciting to see what can be achieved with even more predator control.

Whakaupoko Landcare/ Te Whangai trust Community partnership

On the second Wednesday of every month, from 10.00am – 12.30pm Whakaupoko Landcare and Community Members are welcome to come and work alongside Te Whangai staff & students at their Tui Glen Nursery 188 Jutland Road, Pukekohe (At end of Princes Street West) Pukekohe-(next door to the new subdivision.)

We will be doing native plant nursery work, such as seed sowing/taking cuttings /pricking out seedlings/ potting/weeding and other general nursery activities.

Members are then welcome to remain for lunch. (Bring your own lunch or something to share.)

This is an initiative aimed at providing a regular meeting place for Whakaupoko members, interacting, mentoring and generally assisting Te Whangai with their nursery work plus meeting a whole new group of people.

There will be a short safety brief and detailed instructions for all volunteers.

Please wear closed in footwear and bring wet weather gear in case the weather lets us down. Bring some gardening gloves as well if you can.

Parking will be on the driveway around the lean- to shed, just before the narrow entrance to the nursery section.

Any queries or further information to Fiona Macdonald 021-596946 or 235-8301 or

Michael Ngatai, Auckland Council Biodiversity will tell us more about our cool and secretive Long Tailed Bat. What do they eat? Where do they roost? How many in a family? What is tupor?

10 Bat locators were set up for several week and the results are in. Are they in the Bald Hill area. Have they made it to Patumahoe or the Awhitu Peninsula? Have you seen them in your backyard? How can we look after them? Come along and find out more.

Garrick McCarthy from Auckland Council Biosecurity will background the ever increasing range of options for pest control and what is working well for people. Whakaupoko and Awhitu Peninsula Landcare experiences will add to this. This is very topical as the Pest Free Initiative starts to gain momentum.

Whakaupoko has been steadily working on a project aiming to improve water quality in our local Mauku stream.

One of the first landowners to agree to participate has been the local historical St Bride’s Church, and many hours have been spent planting and maintaining a riparian strip on that property alongside the stream.

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The project is funded by Auckland Council – thanks to support from our Franklin Local Board, and volunteer provide the manpower, any participating landowner needs to provide access and good communication.

With that in mind, perhaps you are someone who would like to consider the following invitation from Whakaupoko Landcare:

“Kia ora katoa

The Local Board has just allocated another generous donation of funds to Whakaupoko for purchasing plants to plant along the Mauku Stream ( and its tributaries ) for 2016

Many thanks to the local board for including Whakaupoko in this round of funding it is great to be able to continue with this project.

If you or anyone you know owns land along the Mauku stream and would be interested in protecting and planting the riparian margins would you please let me know asap. We do already have some landowners who have expressed interest in joining us this year. More would be welcome.

Whakaupoko Landcare extends an invitation to everyone and anyone to come and join in for a couple of hours helping out with the second year of the St Brides riparian planting project.

For those who have not yet visited the historic church grounds, or want to know more about how riparian planting protects the waterways – it is a great opportunity to inform, explore and give a hand…

“After last year’s inaugural planting day, Whakaupoko Landcare will be hosting another working bee to establish the second stage of plantings and carry out some weed control around the existing plantings

This project is part of the long term vision to protect the Mauku stream by completing riparian plantings and has been funded by Auckland Council’s generous donation of funds to purchase the plants.

Grab your gumboots, long sleeves and trousers and bring a spade to join us for a couple of hours to help continue this worthwhile project.

We are also looking for landowners who border Mauku Stream or its tributaries to join the project. Whakaupoko will provide advice, support and locally grown plants to enhance your section of the stream.

Where:Auckland Council Reserve opposite St Brides on the other side of Mauku Stream. Access is on Findlay Rd by Mauku bridge via St Brides land.

When: You choose – any time that suits you and your friends or family. All we ask is that you donate a minimum of 2 hours a month starting January through until May.

Bring: A tool such as a sharp spade, shovel or hoe.

Contact Person:Deborah Savill 2363 051 – for further information.

For permanent control any weeds must be cut off below ground level – not above. For locals there is absolutely no charge and in return you can be proud of playing a part in establishing a potentially beautiful native bush block for all the community and native birds to enjoy. Also you will receive some upper body strength benefits combined with a pleasant walk along some already formed tracks with the company of tui, fantail and the occasional kereru. The weeds are not yet large so almost anyone is capable of at least dealing to a few.

The land was in pines that were harvested. Much of this was replanted in natives 2 – 3 years ago. Whakaupoko Landcare believes it is best to keep the area weed free so that the area can be used as a great community asset for people to enjoy walking through. There are weed seedlings that will dominate for the next 30 – 50 years if we do not act now. In the Mauku area there is limited land where there is public access for all in the community to share. Here is a great opportunity with just a little help from locals to make this space a great place.

Auckland Council is assisting where possible despite the Reserve area not high on their priority list. They are helping with funding more native trees, some fencing and may also help with weed control. This is in line with their mission statement to work collaboratively with communities. Their support is much appreciated.

The reserve does have legal paper road access but as yet this is undeveloped. The current access for the purpose of weed control, is for a 6 month period and is via St Brides land by the Mauku Bridge on Findlay Rd. There will be signage at this point and we ask that the community please respect the access for weed control provided by St Brides. Also respect any stock that may be grazing on the land. Ensure that gates are left as they are found.

The area is close to 1 ha. It is opposite a site on St Brides where the community recently planted native trees along the Mauku stream on St Brides land that was previously just gorse. It is opposite the Mauku Cemetry where again the community has been planting more native trees along the potentially beautiful Mauku Stream. What has been a non native weed infested area for many years could become a real community asset for all to enjoy in the future with a little help from locals. We welcome your participation.

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Over 20 people came to the first meeting of garden enthusiasts at a coffee morning last month in the Patumahoe Butchers shop café. Included were both long term residents of the district as well as more recent additions to the community .

The idea behind the group is to provide an opportunity for people to get together (once a month) socialize and talk gardening ,plants and many other related topics.

We’ve given our group the name “Village Planters” and anyone is welcome to come and relax ,share ideas, bring your gardening problems, talk gardening and learn from each other .

We have started a web page which ,in time, will contain handy hints and details from our meetings

The next get together will again be at the Café 10am Wednesday July 2nd Fiona will devise a fun quiz and would like people to bring a piece of a plant – anything will do .

So for a fun morning ,bring yourselves a friend or two and $ for your morning tea .

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This site is available for anyone in the community to use regarding any aspect of our natural environment or sustainability issues. We are happy to host the local Landcare group - Whakaupoko on these pages.